The Origins And Implications Of Fake News47:41

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After a man fired a rifle inside a D.C. pizzeria while "self-investigating" a baseless online conspiracy theory, we look at how to rein in fake news.

The front door of Comet Ping Pong pizza shop, in Washington, Monday, Dec. 5, 2016. A fake news story prompted a man to fire a rifle inside a popular Washington, D.C., pizza place as he attempted to "self-investigate" a conspiracy theory that Hillary Clinton was running a child sex ring from there, police said. (Jose Luis Magana/AP)

Fake news has always been around. Think UFO stories at the supermarket checkout counter. But this year, in the cauldron of social media and bare-knuckled politics, fake news has exploded. It’s all over, on Facebook feeds and smartphones. It polluted our election season. It’s getting people riled up over bunk. It got a Trump transition team member fired yesterday. He was spreading it. It’s poison to democracy. This hour On Point: the problem of fake news, and what to do about it. — Tom Ashbrook

From Tom's Reading List

New York Times: Fake News and the Internet Shell Game — "One reason all this matters is that it perpetuates a feedback loop of deception that is particularly useful to demagogues here and abroad. Deliberate postings invented by entrepreneurs are the manure that make the seeds of doubt and credulity grow."

BuzzFeed News: This Analysis Shows How Fake Election News Stories Outperformed Real News On Facebook — "This new data illustrates the power of fake election news on Facebook, and comes as the social network deals with criticism that it allowed false content to run rampant during the 2016 presidential campaign. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said recently it was “a pretty crazy idea” to suggest that fake news on Facebook helped sway the election. He later published a post saying, “We have already launched work enabling our community to flag hoaxes and fake news, and there is more we can do here.”'